Department of Functional Ceramics
- Head of Division
Choei, Jong-Jin
Department Introduction
Department of Functional Ceramics is conducting research in various fields using high-performance functional ceramic materials and device manufacturing technologies, including heat dissipation materials for electronics, echo-friendly piezoelectric ceramics, thermoelectric materials, piezoelectric single crystal, magnetocaloric refrigeration, acoustic sensors, ultrasound transducer, stacked actuators, machano-electric/magneto-electric energy harvester, battery, catalyst material for environmental purification and hydrogen production, etc. Through active exchanges with domestic and foreign universities and industries, we are playing a role as a hub in the field of functional ceramic materials and coatings.
Major Activities
- Development of heat dissipation materials and devices : 3 papers published, 1 patent registered, 2 patents applied, 1 technology transfer.
- Development of piezoelectric materials and energy harvesters : 5 papers published, 1 patent registered, 2 patents applied.
- Development of catalysts and electrochemical ceramic materials : 2 papers published, 2 patents registered, 1 patent applied.
Major Research Area
- Convergence heat dissipation materials for futuristic thermal management applied to electric vehicles and high-output electronic components
- Piezoelectric materials, energy harvester, magneto-electric devices
- Technology of highly textured piezoelectric ceramic materials
- Technology of catalyst fabrication and application for environmental purification and hydrogen production
Future Research Plan
- Development of high heat dissipation oxide ceramic filler and thermal interface material
- Research on improvement of energy harvesting device characteristics based on piezoelectric single crystal-based composites and magnetostrictive materials
- Nano powder grinding and dispersion ceramic bead manufacturing technology
- Catalyst manufacturing and modularization for harmful gas and greenhouse gas treatment
- Research on the high performance of energy materials through international cooperation and academic-research cooperation
Major R&D Activities
Development of the piezoelectric single crystal-based energy harvesting technology for powering the IoT sensor
[Introduction]
- The goal of this project is to develop a piezoelectric single crystal-based vibrational/magneto-electric energy harvester and improve its output power and reliability for use in IoT sensor networks.
[Research Activities and Outcomes]
- Development of high-power energy harvesters based on piezoelectric single crystal and methodology to estimate the lifetime of the energy harvesters
- Output power of the energy harvester > 10 mW
- The estimated lifetime of the energy harvester > 109 cycles
- Publication of 4 SCI papers
Development of 30㎛ ceramic beads and reliability evaluation technology
[Introduction]
- Development of high hardness and toughness spherical ceramic beads (~30㎛) for preparation of high purity, fine ceramic powders applied to advanced electronics and energy industries including MLCC and battery technologies.
[Research Activities and Outcomes]
- Manufacturing technology of ~100nm zirconia nanoparticles and their high-dispersed slurry for forming tailor-made zirconia granules
- Development of assembly control technology of nano-scale zirconia supraparticles
- Preparation of zirconia seeds with an average size of ~20㎛ and sphericity of ~95% through simple spray drying process
- Fabrication of zirconia microspheres with high hardness (>26 GPa), density (> 5.95 g/cm3), and elastic modulus (>210 GPa) (The hardness is highest compared with those of the 3YSZ samples reported to date)
- Publication of 1 SCI paper and 4 oral presentations in domestic conferences
Development of high-performance monolith catalysts and modules to remove ozone generated from plasma
[Introduction]
- Development of high-performance catalytic materials and compact modules to efficiently remove harmful reactive species (ozone, O3) generated from plasma for pathogenic organisms removal based on low temperature active heterogeneous catalysts
[Research Activities and Outcomes]
- Development of high-performance catalytic materials to remove harmful reactive species such as ozone
- Development of monolith catalysts and module fabrication technology based on highly active catalysts
- Calculation of major parameters for high-performance catalysts based on first principles
- 1 technology transferred to a company, 9 patents applied and 2 SCI papers published
